Bill Murray spent Groundhog Day stuck in a loop.

So did Smart Bidding, Google’s automated bidding. One big budget change, and back to “Learning” it went.

Now Google broke the loop: The “Learning” label, which appears while a bid strategy recalibrates, now lasts 7 days at most.

Budget, bid target, creative and targeting changes no longer trigger it. Your BFCM budget bump won’t set it off, but performance can still wobble.

Receipts, please: A new Invalid Traffic Overview card estimates what Google saved you by filtering out bots and accidental clicks before billing.

It also shows credits for invalid traffic Google caught after billing, plus daily and campaign breakdowns. It’s rolling out globally this week.

Those credits won’t change Cost or CPA in your Campaigns table. The “Invalid Activity Credit: Search & PMax” report in Report editor shows adjusted numbers.

AI Max comes pre-installed: The setting that lets Google show ads on searches beyond your keywords is on by default for new Search campaigns in Google Ads Editor 2.14.

Automated ad text and landing page picks are on, too. Check your settings before you publish.

At least you can track it: A new ValueTrack parameter, a URL tag Google fills in on each click, marks AI Max expansion clicks with an “a”.

Add {search_term_matchtype} to your tracking template to compare those clicks with keyword traffic.

Your tracking gets a report card: Google just documented Data Strength Uplift, a metric estimating how much first-party data tools like enhanced conversions add to your reported conversions.

• Where: Goals > Conversions > Summary
• Minimum: 100 website or 20 offline conversions in 14 days
• Catch: it shows better tracking, not more sales

No more waking up in “Learning” after budget changes, so set your own alarm.